Pit Stops
by roguehearted
Summary: 26 drabbles one prompt for each letter of the alphabet set either before the start of the events in the game or during the road trip. Focusing mostly on Noctis and Prompto's relationship though featuring other characters as well. Intended to be all light-hearted and fun but that is subject to change.
1. Arcade

"You, my friend, have been far too stressed lately and as your friend, your best friend, I am obligated to help you relax," Prompto gave Noctis a light nudge as they headed back to school after their lunch break. "And do you know how I do that?"

Noctis paused bringing the water bottle to his mouth as he side-eyed him. "I don't know? You're going to throw around the word friend a few more times?"

"No," Prompto scoffed throwing an arm over Noctis's shoulder. "We're going to ditch our last block of classes and hit up the arcade."

A dubious look flashed over Noctis's features as he unhooked Prompto's arm from his shoulder and sidestepped away from him. "I don't think cutting class and sneaking around the arcade is going to de-stress me."

Prompto expanded his arms a large grin spreading across his features ready to offer a solution to any protest that Noctis might have. This was happening. Noctis would make a responsible show of rejecting the temptation, but Prompto knew eventually he'd cave.

"It will be less crowded. All the good machines will be free-."

"That much easier for us to get caught," Noctis muttered tugging at the edges of his shirt. "We're still in our uniforms."

Prompto waved off the comment. "We'll change. We are very mature looking and could totally pass for two guys who have already graduated," He leaned in closer to Noctis. "Check it out. Pretty sure I've got facial hair coming in."

Noctis pushed Prompto's face out of his. "Pretty sure you don't."

"We're straight A students we can afford to miss a class every now and again."

" _We're_ straight A students?" Noctis reiterated with emphasis.

"Fine! You're a straight A student. I'm a suffering artist whose creativity is being stifled by the systems insistence that I learn quadratic equations and memorize really boring facts."

Noctis grinned. "Very dramatic."

"Also very true. Besides grades are irrelevant anyway."

"Unless they support your argument to ditch class?"

"Yes!" Prompto responded with renewed enthusiasm. "Look," He took a few steps backward prepared to walk away from direction of the school. "I'm going and what kind of friend would you be if you didn't come with me?"

"A responsible one?"

"The Mom friend, Noct, you're going to be the Mom friend."

Noctis raised a brow watching as Prompto continued to backpedal away. "Try and look both ways before you walk backward into the street."

"Oh come on!" Prompto whined dropping his hands to his side with a dramatic flair. "You are not seriously going to make me slay zombies by myself!"

The corner of Noctis's mouth quirked upward as he tilted his head at Prompto pretending to consider the statement. He glanced over his shoulder at the rod iron gates of the school looking just beyond the neatly cut shrubbery.

Would a few hours really hurt?

Noctis shifted his school bag on his shoulder and took a few steps towards Prompto. "Can't let you go and get eaten by zombies now, can I?"

Prompto pumped a fist into the air. "All right!" He cheered drawing the attention of a few passersby.

It was Noctis's turn to sling his arm around Prompto's shoulder pulling him in and dragging him out of view of the other people on the street. "Going to need you to be a little bit better about this whole sneaking off thing."

"Right. Noted. Was just excited that's all." Prompto responded sounding a bit sheepish.

As expected the arcade was empty. The proprietor at the counter paused staring at the two of them over his newspaper. He hadn't expected anyone to arrive until the schools let out. There was still the usual three or four people who showed up every day, but Noctis and Prompto didn't fit the bill of daytime customer.

He kept his eyes on them assuming the worst. Two unsupervised boys with no money just hanging out and causing trouble. However, when he noticed Noctis slip some money into one of the machines, he relaxed going back to his paper.

Truants or not he was not about to turn away paying customers.

Noctis picked up one of the guns on the machine in preparation to start up the game only to be cut off by a low whine from Prompto.

"What?" Noctis asked turning to his distressed looking friend.

"I wanted to be the red gun."

Noctis glanced down at the red plastic gun in his hand and then back at Prompto. He had two options here he could relinquish the gun to Prompto who apparently operated under the notion that whatever color gun you were using had an impact on gameplay.

Or he could be petty and tell Prompto that if he wanted to pick his gun, maybe he should pay for the game himself.

As tempting as it was to be just a little bit spiteful Noctis settled with rolling his eyes and handing the red one over to Prompto.

Blue was cooler anyway.

Prompto ran his fingers along the gun's side earning an eyebrow raise from Noctis whose finger was hovering over the start button. "Should we play or do you two need a moment?" He asked biting back against the bubble of laughter in his chest.

"It's still got that chip in the side of it from where I banged it against the console last year. Feels so personal to me."

"Weird," Noctis muttered.

"Sentimental." Prompto echoed back in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, your destruction of property is real endearing."

"Final boss! I had him in my sights! Bullets for days, Noct! And what happens?"

"The game glitches."

"The game glitches!" Prompto shouted back putting the proper amount of outrage into the statement. "It came back on, and I was dead. Boss zombie was munching my brains!"

"Needed a light snack, did he?"

Prompto sputtered turning the battered plastic over in his hands. "Why am I friends with you?"

"Probably because no one else would cut school with you to play video games."

"Right. That's it. You're real easy to talk into things."

Noctis gave Prompto's shoulder a light bump before pressing down the start button ending any further discussion.

"One could argue that we are learning valuable lessons here. In the field life training if you will," Prompto grinned as Noctis side-eyed him from the skee ball machine.

"No, go ahead love to see how you spin this one."

Prompto hummed. "Hand-eye coordination," He pointed as Noctis rolled the ball up the ramp. "There's problem-solving skills."

Noctis gave him a sideways grin as he reached for another ball.

"And teamwork. I mean man, we would have never been able to slay all those zombies without proper teamwork."

Noctis just laughed shaking his head as he reached over to retrieve the tickets he had won from the game.

"Oh and math we're learning math too. Like how many times are we going to have to play to get enough tickets to buy that giant stuffed bear."

Noctis looked over where Prompto was pointing at a ridiculously large stuffed bear looming over the top shelf on the prize counter. He made a face. "Eight thousand tickets. That's so stupid what would you even do with it?"

"Mount it in my room as a souvenir of our day together."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm the one winning all the tickets here. Who says I'd waste that many on a stupid bear for you?"

"A personal gift from Noct what could be better?" Prompto teased.

Noctis ripped ten tickets off the strand and handed them to Prompto. "You can have ten erasers, and I'll even let you pick them out all by yourself."

"I had my heart set on a bear."

"I'm sure they have bear erasers," Noctis dropped another coin in the machine decidedly ignoring any further protests Prompto may have had about giant plush toys.

Noctis turned around finishing up his current game noting how suspiciously quiet Prompto had gotten only to find he was no longer there. He glanced around the room until he located his friend heading back from the prize counter with his hands purposefully behind his back and a mischievous grin plastered on his face.

"I got something better than erasers." He announced.

"Set the bar real high with that one, didn't you?"

From behind his back, Prompto produced two cheap plastic water guns. "The perfect memento from today. Of course, I get the red one." He said dangling the blue in Noctis's face.

Noctis took the item inspecting it carefully. "That's actually pretty cool of yo-."

He cut himself off when a weak trickle of water hit him in the face.

"Man, the pressure on this, sucks."

Noctis scowled but responded by giving Prompto a light flick in the forehead. "Slightly less cool of you."

"Still pretty cool though, right?"

"Yeah still pretty cool."

As their afternoon progressed Noctis was finding that Prompto was right this was helping him feel less stressed. Any lingering anxiety that they would be caught and disciplined had long since receded to the back of his mind.

It wasn't until late in the afternoon that their carefree mentality came back to bite them hard. The sound of the arcade doors opening didn't draw their attention, but the man standing in the doorway with his arms crossed scanning the room did draw the proprietor's.

He set down his newspaper. It was uncommon for them to have such a well-dressed guess. The proprietor swallowed hard looking at him up and down. The guest appeared more likely to do a tax audit on the establishment than to be there to indulge in the games.

"Uh, can I help you with something?" He asked watching the newcomer with wary eyes.

The man was still looking around the room stopping when he spotted Noctis and Prompto hunched excited over one of the consoles. "No, I do believe I have found what I came for thank you." He said making his way over to the two.

It was Prompto who noticed him first fiercely shaking Noctis who kept swatting him away as he tried to focus on the game he was playing.

"Seriously Prompto what is your dam—Oh cra—I mean, Hey Ignis what's up?" Noctis was mentally swearing to himself. He had completely forgot about the fact that he'd need to be back at the school in time for Ignis to pick him up.

"Uh, fancy seeing you here." Prompto offered trying to lean as casually as possible against the game system.

Ignis fixed a glare on Prompto that nearly had him scrambling to hide behind the nearby claw machine. Once he was certain, he had Prompto sufficiently terrified of his presence he fixed his attention back on Noctis. "Your father was rather insistent that you attend a public school. However, I fail to see the need if you do not intend to stay there."

"Uh…." Noctis stammered the color draining from his face a bit at Ignis's words fearing that he had just traded one afternoon of fun with Prompto for a lie time of tutors and homeschooling. "It's not what it looks like?"

Ignis gave him a dull look, but Noctis was already aware that had been the worst excuse possible.

"Oh come on Iggy you and I have snuck out plenty of times in the past!" Noctis waved an arm in protest. "It was just this one time! So, we missed an algebra lesson and an hour of foreign studies big deal. We weren't doing anything wrong."

"And we were properly reprimanded for our actions." Ignis reminded him. "It is a big deal. People will talk." He dropped his voice. "Can you imagine what would happen if the press got wind of the fact that the future King was ditching his studies to play games."

Noctis sighed looking around the room. No one there appeared to know or even care who he was. It was why he liked this place so much.

"The public already has an uneasy opinion of your future leadership due to the fact that your father has taken such a lax approach to raising you as a King. We needn't give them more reason to doubt your abilities."

"Um, Ignis…er Mr. Ignis," Prompto raised his hand leaning into the conversation now. "Sir Ignis? This is all my fault really I convinced Noct to come with me. He was just super stressed lately, and I thought umm well maybe….ta-dah?" He finished giving a weak gesture to the video games behind him.

Ignis raised his eyes and glanced at Noctis who had made a point to turn away. "I see," Ignis trailed off trying to force Noctis to meet his gaze. His tone and expression became more sympathetic. He knew firsthand how talk of the future tended to affect Noctis's moods.

It was usually the reason Ignis would become indulgent and participate in whatever plan Noctis had for sneaking off the Citadel grounds.

"No one knows, yet, that I wasn't able to pick you up at the school."

Noctis felt a weight lift from his chest as he turned and faced Ignis again. He regarded him cautiously.

"I don't see a reason to inform your father or any of the Crown's Guard of this indiscretion. Provided by the fact that in the future you inform me of where I will be picking you up and that you save your destressing activities until after school hours."

Noctis gave a small smile. "Yeah, I think we can manage that."

"Now come along I already have dinner prepared. Will you be joining us Prompto?"

Prompto jumped a bit in surprise. "What? Me? Oh Yeah!" He chimed back happily quickly moving to follow after them.


	2. Birthday

Prompto often told himself that he didn't care about birthdays.

He was lying, of course, but it was a lie that made coping with the inevitable disappointment that rolled around each October more bearable.

"Why do you keep staring over there?"

"What? I'm not!" Prompto stammered back quickly.

Noctis gave his friend a skeptical look as he carefully moved the leafy greens from one corner of his lunch to Prompto's.

Nice try Ignis.

"Dude, it wouldn't kill you to eat some vegetables," Prompto said eyeing the suspiciously large pile of vegetables that had made it over to his plate. He was more than happy to dump the conversation topic on Noctis instead of focusing on his fixation with the occupants of the table to their left.

It was Lena Tannar's birthday, and she had spent the better part of the lunch period gushing to her friends about how her parents had decorated her entire hallway with streamers and balloons for her.

Prompto's birthday was coming up on Friday, and he wasn't even sure that his parents would be home much less do anything for him.

Noctis gave him a one-shouldered shrug. "I'm not supposed to be taking any unnecessary risks,"

"Broccoli is an unnecessary risk?"

"Largely." Noctis grinned letting it fall away a moment later as he jabbed Prompto in the shoulder. "Seriously though what's your deal today?"

Prompto rubbed his shoulder and frowned. How whiny would my birthday is coming up and no one is going to care sound? He hadn't ever told Noctis when his birthday was anyway. It would make it easier not to be disappointed if he didn't remember.

Noctis never asked anyway.

"There's no deal. The lack of vitamins in your diet is making you paranoid."

Noctis gazed over at the other table before giving Prompto one last searching look before going back to his lunch muttering a small if you say so.

Prompto did his best the rest of the day to carry on as if he wasn't bothered.

Because he wasn't.

Because birthdays didn't matter.

And who cares if Lena's friends whisked her away after school for a dinner of gifts, and love, and appreciation.

It was just a Tuesday.

Friday would just be a Friday and birthdays didn't matter.

The fact that Prompto kept trying to reassure himself of these things did nothing to stop Noctis from giving him a questioning stare before they parted ways at the end of the day.

Prompto collapsed face first into the couch when he got home. A quick bleary-eyed glance around the room told him that no one was home and that no one had been home since he'd left that morning. He was seriously considering getting a dog again. At the very least someone would be excited to see him when he got back.

He couldn't remember the last time his adoptive parents were home. It couldn't have been more than a few weeks ago, but they had been in and out of their small home so quickly that Prompto barely registered their presence.

The chances of them being home for his birthday were slim.

He rolled his phone around in his hand. His mom might text him. She was, after all, the one who gave him his birthday. He didn't know when his real one was. Obviously whoever had dropped him off at the Argentum household all those years ago didn't know either.

When he asked when his was his adoptive mother had set it as the date he arrived at their house. Saying he was born the day he came into their lives.

Prompto hummed fondly at the memory. Things hadn't always been weird, but as time passed, it appeared his parents became more and more paranoid about his presence in their lives. He heard them whispering late into the night long after they thought he had gone to sleep.

What if the neighbors found out what he was? Would they accuse them of treason? What would happen if someone from Nifelheim showed up for him?

Prompto supposed it was easier for them to keep their distance. He didn't necessarily blame them, but it didn't stop it from hurting.

The screen on his phone lit up with an incoming text message from Noctis.

You sure you're okay?

Prompto sighed resting the phone on his forehead until the words blurred together. He set the phone to the side. Any response he would give would be rather unconvincing to Noctis at this point. It would be better to just say nothing.

Noctis stared at his phone. It had been fifteen minutes since he had sent that text to Prompto. Usually, his friend was pretty good about answering him right away. The lack of response was only furthering his suspicions that something was bugging him.

Leaning on the counter, he pushed his phone to the side watching with dull interest as Ignis continued to clean the dishes from dinner. Along with all the other ones Noctis had dumped in the sink throughout the afternoon.

"If you're bored, you could help me finish with the cleanup," Ignis noted watching as Noctis pulled a face in disgust at the notion.

"And deny you the pleasure? Never."

Ignis gave a small snort carrying on with the dishes indicating that he never did expect Noctis to help out anyway.

Noctis glanced back over toward his phone going to back to replaying the events of the day in his head trying to determine what exactly could be bothering his best friend. After a moment he sat up straighter reaching for his phone and placing it in his pocket again.

"Say, Ignis?"

Ignis gave a small hum of acknowledgment glancing up from the sink.

"Think you could teach me to bake something?"

Noctis often brought pastries with him to class, so seeing two cupcakes sitting on his desk Friday morning wasn't unusual. What Prompto found unusual was the visual quality of the two sweets. Ignis was usually a stickler for presentation.

These two cupcakes were a bit misshapen, and the frosting looked as if it had been applied by a small child with no attention span.

Prompto nodded toward them. "No offense to your friend, but he's losing his touch."

Noctis frowned crossing his arms over his chest. "I made these," He said looking slightly offended as he jabbed a candle into one and pushed it towards Prompto. "Happy birthday, jerk."

His school bag slide from his hand as Prompto stood there mouth agape. Suddenly that ugly little cupcake was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

Prompto sat down backward in his chair facing his best friend as he cupped the sweet in his hands. "How did you-?" He was running over various conversations with Noctis in his head. Not once did he remember telling his him when his birthday was.

"Was is supposed to be a secret?" He asked reaching down and digging through his own bag. "Why wouldn't I know when my own friend's birthday was?"

"But-." Prompto wasn't going to argue with Noctis's logic but still didn't explain how he knew. There wasn't exactly anyone else he could have asked.

"You left your wallet in my room a couple months ago, remember? It's on your ID." He placed a crudely wrapped gift between them offering it to Prompto.

"You got it off my ID?" Prompto laughed a little in amusement. "Stalker." He added in a sing-song voice.

Noctis pulled the present back raising his eyes at Prompto.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" Prompto yelped making a grab for the gift. "Stealing someone's personal information off their identification is not at all weird or creepy." He looked at the gift grinning so hard he thought his face would freeze like that. "Do I get to open it now?"

"It's your birthday," Noctis snorted attempting to appear indifferent but doing little to contain the pleased smile that was appearing on his own face. "Do what you want."

Prompto immediately tore into the brightly colored paper feeling his breath catch in his throat when it revealed a brand new camera. "Dude! Are you serious this must have cost a fortune."

The cupcake would have more than exceeded Prompto's expectations, but this now had him blown away.

Noctis gave a small shrug ducking his head a bit in embarrassment over Prompto's surprise. "Not really," He muttered trying to play it casual. So he wouldn't be able to buy new comic books for a few months. The look of unrestrained glee on Prompto's face was more than worth that price.

Prompto was immediately fumbling with the box. "Well, obviously the first picture has to be of you and me and your sad cupcakes."

"I hope you get the one with the piece of eggshell in it, Prompto, I really do," Noctis muttered but his smile said otherwise, and his friend threw an arm over his shoulder and took a picture of what he would consider the best birthday he ever had.


	3. Camping

"You got a problem with camping?"

Noctis froze on the spot. It had been a mild complaint that he hadn't intended for Gladio to hear, but of course, it appeared that the larger man had bat like hearing when it came to Noctis's bitching. His shoulders remained tense as he hoped that if he stayed completely still and didn't say anything Gladio would forget the comment and resume going about setting up camp.

He could feel the stare burning into his back, but Noctis refused to turn around and have an argument over accommodations. Especially not when they'd soon be sleeping in such a confined space. (One of his chief complaints about camping.)

Noctis dared a glance at Ignis who was just barely inside his peripherals setting up to prepare dinner. Ignis looked at him before glancing back to Gladio and then turning back to his own task. Normally, Noctis was content with Ignis not stepping in on his behalf. This was not one of those times.

Eventually, Gladio let out an annoyed sigh and went back to staking in the tent. This time with a little more force.

Prompto stood up from his squatting position next to the campfire dusting off his knees in an exaggerated manner. "The sleeping on the ground."

Noctis's eyes widened. Prompto's voice was low just loud enough for him alone to hear. His partner in whine gave him a little grin accompanied with a nudge of the shoulder.

"I was thinking more about the bugs," Noctis responded trying to keep his voice low as Gladio's angry stake pounding continued in the background.

"Gladio's snoring," Prompto supplied the hushed tones started to fall from their voices becoming emboldened by snickers instead.

"Gladio snores in the hotel too."

"Lack of bathing then." Prompto amended jumping slightly as Gladio slammed two camp chairs down next to them.

They both went rigid shoulders shaking slightly as they tried to contain their laughter. Gladio crossed his arms over his chest leveling them both with a glare. "There's not wrong with sleeping on the floor."

Noctis cut in before Prompto could respond to the contrary. "Cool, we'll remember that next time we sleep in a hotel."

"Yeah, Gladio can take the floor!" Prompto cheered earning a camping chair to the gut. He huffed at the impact before carefully unfolding the chair and setting it with the others.

"How about you knock off the whining and help set up?" Gladio thrusted the remaining chair in Noctis's direction. The latter moved out of the way to avoid being smacked by it in the same manner Prompto had been.

"You don't have to set up a hotel room," Noctis dropped any pretense of trying to keep his complaining to himself at this point. Not like he was fooling anyone anyway. It had been days since they spent the night in an actual room. At this point, Noctis would have even been ecstatic for one of the rusty caravans if it meant a decent shower.

"Yes, but hotels do cost money," Ignis lit the burner on the camping stove as he looked back over at Noctis. "And after those last few repairs in Hammerhead, we are bit short on funds."

Ignis would choose now to chime in. Noctis huffed blowing some hair out of his face. "I didn't think the guardrail was that close."

"The Chancellor did say it wasn't a race," Ignis chided lightly, but Noctis swore he could see something akin to amusement in his friend's features.

"If you say it's not a race then it's totally a race," Noctis shot back with his fractured logic. "You couldn't have spent that entire night in the caravan with him and now wanted me to mow him down a little."

Ignis pressed his lips together unsure if he wanted to allow Noctis to know that the desire had been more than just a little.

"Besides," Noctis continued when Ignis didn't speak. "How do we know they didn't mess it up they stole it?"

The crunch and the scraping noises were a pretty good indicator of where the damage had been obtained, but Ignis chose not to mention it. "A very fine point, but it matters not where the damage was incurred the point being we don't have the necessary gil."

"The gil that we have," Gladio wandered back over placing to heavy hands on Prompto's shoulders as he spoke. "We're gonna need for potions for a certain someone who keeps using them all up."

Prompto bristled jerking himself free from Gladio's grasp. "I do not use up all the potions!"

"What makes you think I'm talking about you?" Gladio looked him up and down with an amused smirk.

"You weren't exactly candid about your intent," Ignis noted handing out the dinner plates. "However, Prompto doesn't use any more than the rest of us."

Gladio gave an unapologetic shrug taking the offered meal from Ignis. The fact remained that they had other priorities for the money that earned and that put hotel stays near the bottom of the list.

Noctis picked at the meal absently staring over at a small pond to the far left of the haven. Perhaps camping wasn't so awful if he could get in a couple hours of fishing. "You know what I take it back, camping isn't all that bad."

The grin forming on Noctis's features had Ignis following his gaze. "Not after dark," He declared sternly shattering Noctis's plans for the evening. "There will be daemons about." He added when met with the Prince's frustrated gaze.

"Nevermind, camping both sucks and blows." Noctis was quick to amend his earlier momentary lapse in judgement. He pushed one of the cherry tomatoes to the side of his plate muttering about being able to handle a few daemons before taking one final longing look at the quiet pond.

"If you get an early start tomorrow, perhaps you will be able to get in some fishing in the morning."

Noctis answered with a noncommittal hum.

"If camping's so bad then you should have no problem getting up and, out right?" Gladio chimed in now looking smug.

Noctis flicked a tomato at Gladio in response.

Prompto place his finished plate off to the side and balanced his camera on his knee in its place. "Wanna take a look at the pictures I snapped today?"

The offer was enough to draw Noctis's attention away from assaulting Gladio with the vegetables on his plate and scoot his chair closer to Prompto. "Always nice to know you have my back in a fight." He noted as Prompto's camera clearly displayed a photo of Noctis in the middle of a heated battle with several MTs.

"But look how cool you look!" Prompto offered in his own defense. Noctis tilted his head examining the picture further. It wouldn't be hard to get him to admit the action shot mid-parry did do him a considerable amount of justice.

An amused chuckle burst from Noctis's gut as Prompto clicked to the next picture. Gladio face down in the dirt his greatsword just a few feet away after being kicked from behind by the Spiracorns they did a hunt for earlier that morning. "Man, way to use your head Gladio." He snorted.

Gladio glared looking over at the picture. "Well if someone was keepin us covered instead playin around with his camera it wouldn't have happened."

Noctis snorted. Gladio never let him off easy for his mistakes and now that he had one immortalized in a picture he wasn't going to let that go so quickly. "Gotta be aware of your surroundings, Big Guy."

"Delete that."

As Prompto made a move for the delete button, Noctis moved his hand in to block him and pressed the button to add it to the camera's memory card. "Annnnnnd save." He glanced up meeting Gladio's annoyed stare with a victorious one of his own.

Gladio crossed his arms over his chest giving Noctis his best I'm not amused, and I plan to make you pay for this later look.

"It's a royal matter," Noctis said with a certain level a smugness that spoke to the fact that he knew he was pushing all Gladio's buttons. "This trip is official Lucian business, and Prompto here is keeping record of our journey."

Gladio cut his eyes over to the blond in question as Prompto clutched the camera tighter only moderately concerned that Gladio might snatch it and break it over Noctis's face. "Like you haven't deleted your fair share of pictures on this trip."

Noctis frowned. That was true he had Prompto delete quite a few pictures that he found embarrassing. A few of them the group had teased and threatened to share with Luna, but being the good friend he was Prompto had deleted them in the end.

Or at least he had better have deleted them.

"I out rank you," Noctis said with a grin.

Not the answer Gladio was happy with hearing, but also not one he could argue against. "Pretty sure he doesn't out rank me." He stated jabbing an accusing finger at Prompto as he spoke.

Noctis cut a glance to his friend who was looking between the two of them and the picture in question unsure of what he should do. "I just promoted him," Noctis answered with a half-shouldered shrug. "He out ranks you too."

"And Ignis?"

Noctis looked back at Ignis to see him hiding an amused smile awaiting the answer to that question. "Uh, Specs out ranks all of us."

"If that's the case then Prompto, if you would please delete the offending photograph and preserve Gladio's fragile ego," Ignis said as he resumed picking up the abandoned dishes from around the camp site.

Gladio made an affronted noise that was silenced when Ignis's gaze was turned to him instead. "You two could offer to help clean up, ya know?" Gladio went for the subject change now instead.

"Don't see you rushing to wash dishes." Noctis huffed not looking up from the camera now as he looked over the rest of the pictures with Prompto.

"I can help," Prompto said handing off the camera to Noctis as he got to his feet.

"It's quite alright," Ignis assured him. "You did set the table after all."

A smile spread across Prompto's face as he settled back into his chair.

Gladio fixed his look on Noctis who was still sitting comfortably in his chair flipping through the previously saved photos on Prompto's camera. "You gonna even offer to help?"

"No," Noctis responded without looking up from the camera.

While Ignis did not appear in the least bit bothered by Noctis's lack of help with the dishes Gladio decided to take the refusal personally, by tipping him out of his chair.

Prompto made a small squeak in surprise as Noct went toppling to the ground along with his camera. "Dude, come on!" He whined scooping the camera off the ground and looking it over. "Respect the hardware. It doesn't come cheap!"

"You mean like when you're rolling around in the dirt with it?" Gladio sneered.

Prompto made a face at him. "That's different! I'm a professional."

Gladio sighed as Noctis righted his camping chair and sat back down. "Well, I'm going to be over there training if any of you ladies would like to learn something."

Prompto frowned taking his seat again next to Noctis. Training with Gladio was the last thing either of them would be planning on doing at this point. Satisfied that his camera wasn't damaged Prompto set it back on the floor and pulled out his phone. "Man, someone needs to teach him a lesson, ya know?"

Noctis sat up a bit straighter in his seat and glanced over at Gladio who had already shed his shirt and was doing push-ups in one corner of the haven. "You volunteering because I might have an idea."

From behind them, Ignis let out an exasperated sigh.

"What?"

"I only ask that you don't do anything too foolish."

"It's cool Specs," Noctis said although very unconvincingly in Ignis's opinion as he waved off the request. "After all Gladio loves sleeping under the stars."

It was only a couple of hours before dawn when Prompto rolled over nudging Noctis awake. "Dude, come on," He whispered getting more aggressive with his shaking now as Noctis buried his head deeper into his pillow. "It's either now or never."

That seemed to get Noctis's attention as he sat up on his elbows and cast a tired glance over in Gladio's direction. "You sure he's asleep?" He asked around a yawn.

"Uh, yeah. If the snoring is any indication."

It was a good enough answer for Noctis as he slid out of his sleeping bag and walked in a crouch over to the opening of the tent stopping right at the base of Gladio's sleeping bag. "You grab one end, and I'll grab the other." He said taking a fist full of the bag's fabric in his hand.

Prompto knelt down unzipping the tent as slowly and quietly as possible before taking the other end of the sleeping bag and starting to pull along side Noctis. "Geez, he's heavy."

Noctis gave a small grunt in agreement as they started to inch Gladio outside of the tent. This had been a lot simpler in his head. Drag Gladio outside. Leave him there. Go back to sleep. He hadn't counted on the Shield being so hard to move.

Or on him waking up halfway through.

"Care to tell me what your plan was?" Gladio asked sitting up now leveling a glare at both of them.

Prompto instantly dropped his end of the sleeping bag as if it had burned him immediately realizing now how stupid their plan had actually been. Why wouldn't Gladio have woken up? The only person who could sleep through being dragged out of a tent was Noctis.

He looked over at his friend hoping Noctis was planning on providing the explanation for their current predicament. For his part, Noctis was already bolting towards the edge of the haven a dagger in his hand.

"Are you kidding me right now?!" Prompto shouted at his friend making to run after him but was instantly halted when Gladio grabbed him by his collar.

Noctis didn't offer an explanation for his trechary as he launched the dagger at the closest tree and warped up to one of the branches.

"You're going to have to come down sometime! It's either me or take your chances against an Iron Giant, Noct," Gladio called out.

Noctis continued to hug against the tree daring a glance to the daemons dotting the landscape in the distance and then back to Gladio who had a miserable looking Prompto in a tight headlock.

"Really?" Gladio deadpanned after a prolonged silence from Noctis.

"I'm thinking!"

"Noooooooct," Prompto whined squirming as he tried to free himself from Gladio's hold.

With a sigh, Noctis resigned himself to his fate and threw his blade down warping back to the ground next to Gladio.

With a swift movement, Gladio had hooked his free arm around Noctis's neck and proceeded to drag both pranksters towards the pond.

As his only defense, Noctis immediately went limp but forcing his Shield to drag his dead weight didn't seem to stall him any. As they approached the edge of the haven, it was Ignis who finally poked his head out of the tent and sighed in dismay at the sight before him.

"Gladio, what are you doing?"

Gladio turned back around causing the two pinned between his arms to struggle to regain any sort of footing. "Teaching."

Ignis's eye cut from the pond to Gladio and then back again. "Would you please refrain from drowning the Prince in your lessons?"

"Uh, excuse me," Prompto whined uncertain if he liked the dismal of his own potential drowning. This had all been Noctis's idea after all.

"It would be preferable if you didn't drown Prompto either," Ignis added.

"Thanks?" Prompto responded not exactly on board with Ignis's choice in words, but he'd take what he could get.

"You heard him," Noctis said raising a hand and slapping at Gladio's bicep. "Better let us go."

Gladio grunted. Ignis hadn't said anything about letting them go he had just advised against tossing them in the nearest body of water. Still, beating the snot out of the two of them would severely delay their plans for tomorrow and probably be a waste of good potions.

With a disgusted snort, Gladio released the two of them, but not before purposefully knocking their heads together. "Next time," He said retrieving the sleeping bag from the ground. "I'll make you wish you took your chances with that Iron Giant."

Stepping back into the tent he zipped it up behind him leaving a bewildered Prompto and Noctis outside rubbing their heads.

"He's not going to let us back in, is he?" Prompto muttered despondently as Noctis shrugged and plopped down in one of the vacant camping chairs. For a moment Prompto continued to stare at the tent flap but wasn't bold enough to request reentry. Instead, he turned to join Noctis who was already asleep in one of the camping chairs.


	4. Dog

Hiding anything from Ignis always took some doing, and even when Noctis thought that he had his friend fooled, it often turned out that he was wrong. Ignis always just seemed to know exactly what Noctis didn't want him to, like how he hadn't eaten his vegetables or hadn't finished his homework. It was downright impossible to pull anything over on him, and it was a fact that Ignis had grown obnoxiously proud of over the years.

What made matters worse was that once Noctis had returned from Tenebrae, Ignis had become even more determined to keep tabs on him. He was constantly attempting to coax a conversation out of Noctis or popping up when the latter least expected him. Noctis knew Ignis wouldn't let up until he discovered whatever it was he was looking for, and the frustrating truth about his friend and future advisor was that Ignis eventually achieved what he set out to do.

This, however, was one secret that Noctis was determined to keep. Ignis had completely freaked out on him when he tried to sneak a cat into his room a few years back; if he thought a stray cat warranted such a reaction, Noctis would hate to think how he would take the fact that he had been hosting a dog from Tenebrae for the last few months.

He knew one of the very first things Ignis would do was tell his dad. Noctis wanted to believe that his father would be happy with the idea that he was still talking to Luna, but he had a sinking suspicion that he was being far too optimistic in that mindset. After all, with everything that had happened and their retreat from the manor, Noctis knew his dad would consider further communication to be too dangerous.

Noctis might have been just a kid, but he was smart enough to pick up on the quiet rumblings around the Citadel. Anyone they had inside Tenebrae since the empire took it over hadn't been heard from since, and most feared the worst, whatever that meant. Such rumors wouldn't deter Noctis from his mission, though; if anything, he just thought it meant Umbra was super brave, being able to sneak back and forth like that without getting caught.

And Luna was _counting_ on him. She sent him home with that notebook and asked him to write back to her—he couldn't just disappoint her like that, which was why it was imperative that he shake off all of Ignis's efforts to figure out what he was up to.

Of course, Noctis was beginning to find that harder to do the longer the ruse went on. There were words he needed help spelling, craft supplies he needed to locate, and also the snacks he had to sneak into his room from the kitchen so Umbra could have a treat. Tenebrae was a long trip, after all, and his four-legged friend would definitely need to keep his strength up if he was going to get back safely.

It didn't help that Noctis was running out of lies and excuses; Ignis was barely buying the 'for homework' one he'd been given when asked to define a few of the words Luna had used in a recent letter.

To make matters worse, Umbra appeared rather unconcerned with being caught by anyone within the Citadel, oftentimes just laying out in the open on Noctis's bed and waiting for him to return. There had been a few close calls in those instances where Ignis almost caught him. He'd expressed his frustrations to Luna once, to which she'd responded that he should trust his friends a bit more.

Luna was obviously trying to be nice with that one, but she didn't know what a stickler for the rules Ignis was. He didn't want to shoot down her suggestion entirely, though, so he told her that he would think about it.

Just not today.

As Noctis slipped into his bedroom after his morning lessons, he was happy to see that Umbra at least occupied a less obvious position on one of the chairs instead of in plain view on the bed. That didn't stop the dog from immediately hopping up and trotting over to nose at Noctis's arm in search of affection for his efforts, though.

Noctis willingly obliged with the customary scratches behind the ears and asking for paw before reaching into the bag Umbra was carrying to retrieve Luna's well-worn notebook. Wandering back over to his bed with Umbra in tow, Noctis sat down and carefully balanced the book in his lap as he flipped through the pages of their shared journal, passing by his own untidy scrawl and stopping on the last page where Luna's own eloquent script was featured.

Along with a sylleblossom pressed between the pages.

Noctis carefully lifted the flower and placed it gingerly next to him before reading over the message Luna had sent with it.

 _Dear Noctis,_

 _I do hope this letter finds you well and that Umbra was able to locate you safely. I believe that he missed you upon his parting the last time. With that said, I do hope the sylleblossom I enclosed survived the journey. I recall your disappointment that they only grow here in Tenebrae, and while the one I have sent to you will not be able to flourish, I hope it lifts your spirits a bit in these difficult times._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Lunafreya_

Noctis read the letter a few more times before shutting the notebook and poked at Umbra.

"You really miss me?" he asked, receiving a quick lick on the hand in response. Rolling off his bed, he wandered over to one of his drawers and set the flower inside. At least this way he'd know where it was to enjoy it himself, and Ignis wouldn't find it.

Unless his friend decided to snoop through his belongings, which would be pretty uncool of him if Noctis had anything to say about the matter.

Once he was sure that his present was hidden from prying eyes, he turned and looked back at Umbra.

"I should probably send Luna back something too." He looked around the room, but there really wasn't anything that jumped out immediately as Luna-gift appropriate, especially nothing that he'd be able to shut neatly in the book and send back with Umbra.

Noctis glanced over at the dog as if expecting his furry companion to be forthcoming with suggestions for thoughtful gifts. Umbra just yawned and stretched in response. Some help he was.

"We could go down to the garden and find a flower for her, too," Noctis mused, earning a huff from Umbra. Somehow, Noctis had a hard time believing he'd actually missed him. As it stood, it appeared that all Umbra wanted was for Noctis to write his response and send him on his way, preferably with a treat. He did not seem to be nearly as excited about the prospect of extra errands during his visits.

"Oh come on, it'll be real quick," Noctis assured him, tiptoeing towards the door to peek his head out. There were certain areas within the Citadel that Noctis could get away with going to on his own, and the garden was certainly one of them.

Though, since his return from Tenebrae, the Crownsguard had been far too fussy and attentive for Noctis's liking. They insisted on walking with him everywhere he went. It wasn't that Noctis didn't understand the precautions, but that didn't mean he had to like them.

"Need something, Your Highness?"

One of the current guards on duty in the hallway had apparently heard the very moment he opened his door and was ready to assist with whatever Noctis wanted.

With a small squeak of surprise, he quickly shut the door again with a frown. Slipping down to the gardens himself to get the flower for Luna would be easy enough, but he wouldn't be able to take Umbra with him. Which was a let-down since he was counting on his help in picking out the perfect one to send.

"I'm sorry, buddy," Noctis sighed, gently rubbing under Umbra's chin. "They'll see you if I take you with me. You can hang out here, though. If Ignis comes, just make sure you hide."

Proving that he intended to directly defy all of Noctis's instructions, Umbra padded back to the bed and plopped himself down to level Noctis with an intense stare. The young prince met his gaze, pouting—he would obviously need to be quick about his little adventure. Ignis wasn't going to be out of his own lessons for another hour, which should have been more than enough time to get down to the gardens and back with his prize. He could just pick one of every flower, bring them all back, and let Umbra decide that way.

So, Noctis exited his room, this time stepping fully out of his quarters and coming face to face with the guard who'd greeted him moments ago. Apparently, Noctis's earlier actions were enough to warrant concern, and he had decided to come over and investigate further. Noctis just counted himself lucky that this particular guard looked like he intended to knock before entering.

"Heading somewhere, Prince Noctis?" he asked. Noctis knew he was keeping his tone as pleasant and friendly as possible so he might be more likely to tell him what he was up to, not that Noctis was about to be taken in by that.

"Just a walk," he mumbled, trying to skirt around the man. He was making a bit difficult, what with the way he had positioned himself just outside the door.

 _Stupid tree_.

"Would you like for me to escort you?"

Noctis recognized that that wasn't so much a request as it was a hint. While his answer would technically matter, it didn't change the underlying fact that what this guard really meant was, 'we would all prefer it if you let someone escort you.'

Normally, Noctis would take that into consideration, but not this time.

He shook his head, averting his gaze to the shoes that he was currently scuffing against the ground. "S'fine. I can go myself."

That was not going to be enough to shake off this guard. It was probably a good thing: it wasn't like they wanted members of the Crownsguard taking a lackadaisical approach to the safety of the royal family. Only, right now, it was serving to grate Noctis's nerves.

"Well, where are you taking a walk to?"

Noctis tried not to huff in annoyance with only partially successful results. Lying or saying he didn't know would be pointless and really only make things more obnoxious in the end, so he went with the truth.

"Gardens."

For now, he would settle for one-word answers. No need to make it sound like further conversation was necessary or appreciated.

Not that this guy was all that great at picking up the subtle hints that Noctis was dropping.

"I think it might be best if someone made sure you got there safely." The guard looked up, nodding at one of his fellows before turning back to address Noctis again. "Don't you want to wait until Ignis gets done with his lessons?"

 _Absolutely not._

That was what Noctis was trying to avoid here. Really, the guard wouldn't be able to force him to wait for Ignis or even go with anyone, but Noctis needed this to move along a little faster either way. So, he shook his head in response and put on the best pleading tone he could. "I only wanted to go for a few minutes."

That one won him over. The guard straightened up and nodded again, passing a wary glance to one of his colleagues before settling back on Noctis again. "Have a nice walk, then, Your Highness."

Noctis wasn't foolish enough to believe that the guard wasn't immediately going to communicate what had happened to the rest of those stationed in the Citadel and make sure that he was really going to the gardens, but none of that mattered now that he'd been granted the permission to be on his way. Ditching guards out there was a lot easier than ditching them in the hallways.

Luckily, it didn't take Noctis long to get down to the gardens. It wasn't unusual for him to spend time there, which was probably why no one was quite as adamant about accompanying him as they would be anywhere else. However, he didn't miss how the guards on the floor repositioned themselves after he entered and peeked in behind him to see which direction he headed.

As long as they didn't follow him around, Noctis wasn't going to let it bother him too much. He had a mission here; worrying too much and getting upset over minor annoyances he couldn't control wouldn't do him any good.

Noctis looked at his surroundings, hoping the obvious floral choice would jump out at him. He had to admit that he didn't really pay much attention to flowers before; he mostly just came down here to play with the stray cats, much to Ignis's dismay.

Honestly, he figured it really was a shame that he couldn't get Ignis's help on this little project. If sylleblossoms only grew in Tenebrae, then there had to be some flower that only bloomed in Lucis that Luna hadn't seen yet. If there was, Ignis would know and offer a full explanation as to why.

Yeah, probably better that Noctis left him out of this one.

If he couldn't find the rarest flower, then he would settle for the coolest-looking one. The idea suddenly had Noctis examining every flower he passed with extreme scrutiny. All of them were too plain to send back to Luna. They were nice and all, but they just weren't gift material.

That was when he set his sights higher, stopping in front of one of the large trees that stretched towards the ceiling and canopied over him. There, near the top, was a mesmerizing pale pink flower growing among its branches. Noctis frowned, his face scrunching up as he attempted to work out this particular problem.

The smart thing to do would be to ask an adult to retrieve a flower for him or to pick out a different, more accessible flower. Noctis favored neither of those solutions, examining the tree for climbing access. This shouldn't be that big of a deal. Everyone was saying he needed to be more active, and what was more active than climbing trees? Plus, a little voice in the back of his head told him that this was something best done without getting caught.

A sudden pressure against his legs startled Noctis out of his musings, alerting him to the presence of a familiar cat where it was nudging against him and vying for his attention.

Noctis obliged, but only for a moment, quickly remembering what he was here for.

"Not now, Bartholomew," he scolded, approaching the tree and starting his ascent. It couldn't be too hard: he had seen it done in plenty of books and movies before. You just grabbed on and shimmied your way to the top—he could handle that. When he finally learned how to warp, this would be so much easier.

Below, the cat let out a curious mewl before deciding that Noctis was otherwise occupied and curling up in a nearby patch of grass, ignoring him for the time being in favor of a nap. Noctis found himself a little jealous, to be honest. This was harder than he thought it would be. Not that that would deter him from his prize.

It might have taken a few tries and a couple of close calls, but Noctis finally managed to hoist himself onto one of the sturdier branches near the top. Crawling along it carefully, Noctis plucked one of the flowers and cradled it gently in his palms.

It was perfect. Just what he had been hoping for.

Now he just had to get down and back to his room before Ignis ever had the chance to suspect anything.

Noctis glanced towards the ground as a thrill of panic shot through him. He hadn't thought through the entire process, especially if he wanted to keep from smashing his flower.

 _Uh oh._

Ignis usually spent his time after his lessons helping Noct finish his homework, which more often than not meant all of it. Not that Noct wasn't smart: the case was usually that his friend had different preferences for his focus. At least, that was how it used to be. Ever since Noct's accident, he had become a lot more withdrawn, and homework was the best chance to get a conversation out of him.

This time, one of the guards in the hall drew Ignis's attention as he was about to knock on the door a second time.

"If you're looking for Prince Noctis, he went down to the gardens about an hour ago."

That wasn't exactly an odd turn of events. Noct often liked to head down there on his own to play with the stray cats that Ignis absolutely despised. You never knew what manner of diseases they could be carrying around. He had expressed as much to King Regis himself, but apparently the king didn't see much harm in allowing a few cats to hang around.

Noctis knew that Ignis checked in with him after lessons, so there would be no point in going down to the gardens to fetch him. If anything, that would only serve to annoy Noct further. It wasn't like him to purposely ditch Ignis, but making him wait a little bit while Noct did as he pleased was definitely his style.

"I'll wait for him in his room," Ignis informed the guard. Even if Noct was feeling particularly spiteful today, he would never make Ignis wait too long before returning. It was one of the prince's more endearing qualities: when he thought that he was behaving in a particularly defiant manner, he still ended up being at least a bit considerate.

Or perhaps not as considerate as he thought.

When Ignis shut the door behind him, he found at once that he was not alone. A black dog lifted his head from its position on a nearby chair and glanced back at him. Ignis wasn't sure if he should be offended or not: this strange animal was staring at him as if mildly annoyed that it took Ignis so long to arrive.

Well, this finally explained why Noct was so adamant about bringing leftovers to his room recently.

And they would be having a very stern discussion about it once Noct returned—right before Ignis went to King Regis and pointed out that he had been right, that allowing Noct to continue to mess around with whatever manner of mangy cat that found its way into the Citadel would only encourage him to attempt to test his luck with other animals.

The real question here was how Noct managed to get this dog all the way to his room without anyone noticing. Maybe further discussion would be needed about the quality of guard they employed within the Citadel. Noct could be sneaky when he wanted to be, but the idea that several grown adults had been outsmarted by an eight-year-old had Ignis very worried about the future of the kingdom.

For a moment, he wondered if he should go out there right now and inform the guards of their grievous error. Then a better idea overtook him: the thought of Noct's face when he returned to find Ignis sitting in wait with his big furry secret was too good to pass up. The guards would be dealt with later, presumably by Cor, so Ignis would let them off the hook for now.

Ignis turned one of the chairs so it was facing the door and coaxed the dog over. To his surprise, for a potentially dangerous stray, it was incredibly well mannered and behaved. With only a small huff of irritation, it trotted over and sat down next to Ignis, eyeing him expectantly as if to ask, 'what now?'

Well, now they waited. If Noct intended on keeping this dog a secret, then one would have to think that he would be back shortly in order to keep Ignis from discovering the animal. And now Ignis would be waiting.

Only five minutes turned into ten minutes, and then ten into fifteen; the longer Ignis sat there, the more foolish he started to feel. Even the dog was looking at him like he thought he was an idiot.

He was just about to abandon the entire endeavor when it sat up straight, staring attentively at the door.

Could it be that Noct finally decided it was time to head back? Ignis didn't hear anyone outside, but he could concede that the dog's hearing had to be far superior to his own. A few moments passed where no one entered, and then it was Ignis's turn to level the canine with a judgmental look.

" _Well_ —"

Ignis cut himself off as the dog bolted towards the door and began desperately scratching at the wood with such intensity that Ignis was uncertain how they couldn't hear it from the other end.

"Cut that out this instant!" He stomped over, trying to pull the dog back. "That is antique wood!"

Noct was already going to be in big trouble for sneaking a dog into his room; Ignis would prefer that this mutt not add to it by damaging any property.

Luckily enough, the dog decided to change tactics and began to nudge Ignis towards to door. It was then that the thought came to him: who knew how long Noct had been keeping him up here? Perhaps it needed to relieve itself.

Taking one last look into the pleading eyes of the dog, Ignis decided that was _not_ a mess he was willing to clean up on Noct's behalf, although it seemed the task would fall to him if he didn't get this dog outside. It didn't appear that Noct had any manner of leash or harness, so Ignis found himself at a loss for how he was going to do this. It was probably now that he was going to have to ask for help from one of the adults.

Hesitating slightly, Ignis opened the door just a crack, but that was all the dog apparently needed to get free and bolt down the hallway. Ignis let out a cry of surprise, but none of the guards appeared to even notice the dog let alone take off after it.

"Is something the matter?" one of them asked, casting Ignis a worried glance.

Did they seriously not see the loose, wild dog in the hallway? A dog that was now waiting for him right at the corner, pacing back and forth. Ignis's eyes darted in confusion between the guard and the expectant canine, which seemed to be losing its patience with his lollygagging.

He had a choice to make. Either he must tell the educated, trained, and responsible member of the Crownsguard what was going on an seek assistance, or follow the possibly invisible dog and see where he would lead him.

It took only a brief moment of deliberation, but in the end, his curiosity won out over responsibility.

"No, I just thought I heard something. I suppose it's been long enough, though. I'll go fetch the prince myself," Ignis said, starting down the hall.

"Will you require someone to join you?"

Ignis hesitated again; at the end of the hallway, the dog huffed in obvious annoyance. Wherever he came from, this dog had obviously picked up on Noct's temperament and impatience.

He quickly shook his head. "That shouldn't be necessary. I hope to be back with him shortly."

He didn't bother waiting for a response, focusing all his willpower on walking down the hall as if everything was normal instead of breaking into a run as he would have liked to. By the time he actually made it around the corner, the dog was wearing such an exasperated expression that it was almost human-like.

They began to move down the hallway with a sense of urgency that Ignis was finding contagious. No longer did he believe this was merely an issue of the dog needing to be let out—greater forces were at work here. Why else was it so obvious that no one else noticed a rogue dog in their midst?

Descending several flights of stairs, the canine led them straight towards the gardens that Noct was allegedly visiting when Ignis arrived. A sharp feeling of panic flared up in Ignis's chest. What if something had happened to Noct?

They picked up the pace, and the dog paused every few moments to sniff the air before running off again, only to finally stop at the base of one of the larger trees. Ignis hung back, watching and catching his own breath. He didn't see any sign of trouble or even Noct, for that matter. Could this really have been a giant chase for nothing?

Then he heard a small voice from above.

"Umbra?"

The dog sat down and tilted its head upwards, its tail wagging slowly as he looked back to Ignis. Apparently, this was what they came for.

Ignis stepped forward, following the dog's gaze to the top of the tree. There sat Noct with his arms hugged tightly around one of the branches.

"Noct, is that you?"

"Iggy? What are you doing here?"

Ignis tried not to let it bother him too much that Noctis sounded significantly less excited to see him than he did the dog. "Yes. Noct, are you stuck?"

As if to answer the question for him, Umbra began to paw at the tree and then looked back at Ignis with a whine, apparently expecting him to be able to do something about it.

It took Noct a moment to answer, clearly trying to decide if it was worth it to attempt to get away with a lie. Eventually, he replied by burying his face against the trunk of the tree.

"I-I don't know how to get down."

Well, that much was obvious. The real question was what Noct was even doing up in that tree in the first place. Aside from fishing, Noct hadn't shown all that much interest in the outdoors, not enough to warrant a sudden urge to take up climbing trees. That, however, would be a conversation for later.

"Noct, I'm going to go get the Marshal so we can get you down."

There was another hesitant pause in which Ignis saw Noct turn his head away, taking a long look at Umbra before despondently answering, "Okay."

With that, Noct pressed his head against the bark once again. Ignis felt a pang of guilt as he looked over at Umbra. The dog had positioned himself directly under the tree and was watching Noct with such laser-like focus one would think he had been appointed by the Crownsguard to see to his safety.

In fact, he sort of had. This was apparently the purpose for which Ignis was led here. It was a shame that there was no other way to help Noct as Ignis found himself suddenly less enthused about ratting out Noct's newest friend.

It didn't take long for the Marshal to answer once Ignis sent for him. As soon as he explained the situation, Cor set aside whatever he had been doing and followed Ignis to the gardens, carrying a rather large ladder. As they rounded the corner and headed towards Noct's tree, Ignis felt himself breathing a sigh of relief. It seemed Umbra had enough sense to vacate the area before Cor arrived.

So, maybe Ignis also felt a touch annoyed by that. Shouldn't the dog have stuck around to make sure that Noct got down okay? Particularly after all the trouble it had gone through to get help, Ignis would have thought that he would stay.

As Cor placed Noct back down on solid ground, Ignis curiously noticed the pink flower that his friend was clutching in his right hand. His eyes glanced back upward at that, taking note that the branches above them were filled with the same. He lowered his eyes to his friend's, whose frown only deepened as he looked away.

"What possessed you to climb a tree?" The gaze Cor had trained on Noct was enough to make Ignis slink back in guilt, but apparently Noct wasn't as intimidated by the Marshal as everyone else was. Noct offered a halfhearted shrug in response, still refusing to make eye contact.

"Jus' wanted to see if I could," he replied, an answer that both the Marshal and Ignis could tell was absolute garbage.

The Marshal, however, didn't seem too keen on grilling Noct on the matter. Instead, he launched into a stern lecture.

"You are extremely lucky that Ignis found you. Had he not come looking, you very well could have been stuck up there for hours—or worse, fallen and hurt yourself. Your father may have to rethink allowing you to roam around unsupervised if you're planning on making choices like this."

"M'sorry," he muttered, clearly having nothing more to say for himself. Whatever excuses Noct actually had for his behavior, he apparently found that the small sacrifice of his privacy was worth it. Still, Noct flinched slightly at the threat to his independence in the future.

"How did you know where to find him?" Cor turned his attention to Ignis, who was catching panicked—almost pleading—looks from Noct that Cor couldn't see behind him.

Ignis swallowed hard. What was he supposed to say? That he'd followed a dog here? That would sound positively crazy, especially if no one else had seen Umbra and the dog wasn't here now. Besides, it did seem that he owed it to the canine not to get him banned from the Citadel. Without his help, Noct would have still been stuck up that tree.

So, Ignis did what he predicted he would be doing for Noct quite a few times over the years: he lied.

"The guards told me he went to the gardens, so I came here to look and found him after calling out."

Ignis tried his best not to squirm under the stare that Cor was giving him as he scrutinized that response. He wasn't sure if the Marshal fully bought his excuse, but at least it wasn't a complete lie.

Cor eventually nodded at the two of them, looking back towards the entrance.

"Crowne will escort you back to your room now," he said, indicating the female guard watching them all from the other side of the grounds. "And I trust that there will be no more tree climbing in your future?"

Noct quickly shook his head, shuffling off with Ignis to join their escort. All in all, he was confident that Noct should be grateful he got off so easily. His unsupervised climbing only to get stuck might not have seemed like such a big deal, but when one factored in everything that could have gone wrong, it was actually a rather serious offense.

Both Ignis and Noct followed their escort in complete silence; it wasn't until they were safely shut behind Noct's door that the prince turned towards him with one of the largest, most pleading pouts that Ignis had ever seen.

"You're going to tell Dad, aren't you?"

Ignis opened his mouth only to immediately close it. If he were being honest, he hadn't fully thought about that one. Really, he should inform his Majesty about Noct's new companion, especially since it appeared that this dog could travel as he pleased unseen by the best the Crown had to offer.

Still, Umbra had been loyal and helpful in a time of crisis when it came to Noct's safety, so Ignis found himself at a loss for what to do.

"He's Luna's!" Noct blurted, apparently taking Ignis's silence as confirmation that he would be ratted out. "She asked me to write her back, and Umbra takes the messages! I _promised_."

No sooner had the words left Noct's mouth than the dog in question seemed to appear in the corner of the room, offering Ignis a serious expression as Noct waited for an answer.

Well, now, that did wonders in the way of explaining the whole disappearing dog trick. It stood to reason that the future Oracle might have a few divine methods of her own when it came to communication. Ignis glanced at the flower Noct was still holding in realization: suddenly, this was all making a bit more sense.

Ignis nodded to the blossom. "Is that why you climbed the tree, then?"

Noct's scowl deepened, and he responded with an annoyed grunt.

 _That was a yes._

"I suppose," Ignis began, watching as Noct's expression turned hopeful, "that we can keep this between just the two of us."

"I take it the cat is out of the tree?" King Regis asked with a hint of amusement in his voice as Cor strode into the room.

"And sent back to his room with Ignis," Cor confirmed, stopping before Regis and stooping into a deep kneel before rising and speaking again. "I suggested to him that perhaps he'd no longer be enjoying the freedoms of garden exploration."

"And you believe that necessary?"

Cor shook his head. "No, I believe the threat alone was enough to make him understand the severity of his actions. I would venture to guess he'll be more careful in the future."

"Did he tell you his reasoning?" Regis asked.

At that, a ghost of an amused smile appeared on Cor's lips. "Just said he wanted to see if he could, although from the way he was unwilling to relinquish a flower he took from the tree, I gathered that he was simply trying to procure a gift."

Regis smiled. "I suppose that is reason enough to forgive his actions this time around. Would that he be willing to just tell us the truth. Am I to assume that he has at least informed Ignis of his newly acquired pen pal?"

Of course, the Lady Lunafreya had been gracious enough to inform Regis of her intention to continue communicating with Noctis after their departure from Tenebrae. Regis had been apprehensive about the exchange at first, but knowing how his son had gotten along with the future Oracle, he was unable to deny her request.

Besides, very little went on within the Citadel that King Regis didn't know about, and if Noctis believed that his father didn't notice what was going on right under his nose, then he was truly naïve. And while Regis wished that his son would come to him with his secret, he was kind enough to let him keep believing it was one.

"I assume so," Cor said. "A few of the guards reported that Ignis seemed rather flustered when leaving the prince's room earlier. I can only assume that Umbra led him there. I didn't see him myself."

Regis bore the faintest of smiles. "Ah, well he only makes his presence known when he wants it to be."

In her room in Fenestala Manor, the Lady Lunafreya dropped down to her knees, affectionately welcoming Umbra home before retrieving the notebook he bore for her. It was not the flower that Noctis had thoughtfully included that caught her by surprise, as she knew that he was kind enough to wish to return her gift.

No, what took the former princess by surprise was the photo of himself and Ignis that was carefully taped alongside his response. Lunafreya smiled, tilting the notebook so both dogs could also see.

"It is rather wonderful to see that he's told his friend, is it not?"


	5. Emergency

Noctis was not accustomed to being permitted to go certain places outside of his norm, not that that ever bothered him much. He had his apartment, school, a few restaurants, and a couple of other hangouts that had been deemed safe enough so long as there was a Crownsguard operative within spitting distance at all times. His friends' homes could be a different story depending on the person. Ignis and Gladio's residences were no problem: Gladio was Noctis's Shield, and Ignis lived at the Citadel. Prompto's house, however, was another matter entirely.

He was never all that keen on having Noctis over anyway, often citing that anything they could do at his place, they would be able to do at Noctis's better and easier. He insisted that princes had no reason to visit the _plebian domain_ he called home.

That only served to make Noctis more curious. It wasn't that he thought Prompto was hiding something; he had too high an opinion of his friends to honestly believe any of them were plotting against him. Except maybe Ignis, although Noctis and his father had very different opinions on what things were considered treason. Broccoli, as much as he argued to the contrary, was not one of them.

Anyway, he was more of the mind that his friend was embarrassed by his likely humble surroundings. Noctis already knew the general area that Prompto lived in: it wasn't a high-end community. There were no gates or guard patrols. There was a neighborhood watch, and that was it. The place definitely wasn't anything to write home about, but it wasn't something Prompto should have feared Noctis would judge him for either.

He got it, though. The first couple of times they had gone to Gladio's or Ignis's or even just hung out at Noctis's apartment, Prompto had been pretty awestruck by some of the amenities. Noctis was well aware that there were a lot of occasions where his friend simply didn't feel like he stacked up by comparison. He never voiced it, and in Noctis's opinion, he was wrong—there were better ways to point that out than saying it, however.

Like going to Prompto's house and proving to him that the world and their friendship weren't going to end over having a _two-and-a-half-bath_ situation.

It had taken a lot more effort to convince Prompto to allow it than it had Noctis's dad. His father had agreed almost immediately, so long as Noctis brought Gladio along. Apparently, he believed he was a lot safer just hanging out at an unknown commoner's house than in the open at an arcade with only two well-lit fire exits.

Eventually, Prompto had agreed, rolling his eyes and telling Noctis that if he died of boredom after the first twenty minutes, it wasn't on him.

He hadn't. There was something simple and comforting about being outside the city proper and just hanging out in Insomnia's residential districts. There was no constant buzz of noise from the streets outside, only Gladio's constant stream of curses when Prompto managed to take him down in the game they were playing for the sixth time in a row.

"Okay," Noctis sighed, tossing his phone back on the coffee table as he picked up his own controller again, "think I found the one drawback to being this far out of the city."

"Dude, you step on Ms. Faucus's flowers, she puts a curse on you. That's just how things go in the suburbs," Prompto chimed in without looking up as he casually leaned into Gladio in an attempt to bump the latter's controller.

Snorting, Gladio answered with a more forceful shove of his own.

Noctis knew better than to address Prompto's sarcasm and continued as though his friend hadn't said a thing, "Takes longer to get a pizza delivered out here."

"Uh, _yeah_ ," Prompto scoffed. "That's 'cause your apartment is two blocks from the place. My house is, like, two _bus rides_ away."

"What'd you get?" Gladio asked, tossing aside his controller in annoyance as the game declared Prompto victorious again.

Honestly, Noctis imagined that Gladio had to be getting pretty angry at his repeated defeat by now. There weren't many instances where he _didn't_ come out on top in competitions; in fact, that made Gladio so competitive that he was nearing insufferable levels. It didn't help that video games were more Noctis and Prompto's domain than his. A few more lost rounds, and Gladio would declare the entire endeavor stupid, resorting to taunting the two of them about doing something more productive with their time. Like laps around the neighborhood.

Before he replied, Noctis shot Prompto a subtle look that clearly said, _let him win, or we're both screwed_. Prompto seemed to understand, given that he rolled his eyes as he turned back to the game.

"Just the usual." Noctis shrugged. "I've got our regular ordered saved, so I just had to change it to delivery instead and put in the address."

Prompto leaned back against the couch, not putting in as much effort now as he had the last round-which Gladio picked up on almost instantly.

"Play right or give the controller to Noct. Ain't fun beating ya if you aren't even trying."

"That's because you _can't_ beat me if I'm trying, dude."

Instead of putting forth his best effort again, Prompto was apparently more inclined to take choice number two and offered his controller to Noctis.

"We could always change game modes or something and all play on the same team," he offered. If Ignis wasn't here to offer the diplomatic solution, Noctis assumed that burden was going to fall on him. Neither Prompto nor Gladio was going to take up the reins on that one.

"Yeah, but then Gladio sucks on _our_ team," Prompto pointed out, even though he was already taking the game back to the main menu and changing the settings as Noctis had suggested. "Alright, big guy, I'd better not have to carry you the entire time."

Gladio grunted, not having prepared a retort. So, he made the mature and responsible choice to kick Prompto in the side.

This was what Noctis had been striving for: there was a certain measure of calm that descended on the room in spite of Prompto and Gladio's bickering, and everything felt completely normal. Here, at that moment, there were no princes or Shields; he could forget about kings and Crystals and his father's declining health to just enjoy himself. None of that stuff would go away completely, of course. Noctis knew that he would return to his apartment tonight and find that Ignis had left an organized stack of papers for him to look over. That was later-for now, he scooped up the controller that Prompto was edging towards him with his foot and joined in.

All three of them got so comfortable that when the doorbell rang to signal the arrival of their pizza, no one wanted to get up to answer it. If they hung out at Noctis's apartment, they never had food delivered. It was either up to Ignis or one of the Crownsguard members who kept watch on his building to go and pick it up. Noctis would concede-just not _aloud_ -that that was a small perk to staying at his place.

"It's _your_ order," Prompto observed even as he rose to his feet.

"Yeah, but it's _your_ house," Noctis shot back for good measure. "Besides, you're already dead. Gladio and I will finish this fight."

"Yeah, yeah," Prompto called as he headed down the hall to the front room. "Do we have cash for a tip?"

"Just put it on the card." Noctis glanced over in confusion when Gladio stiffened at his response, his Shield's eyes darting over to him. For a second, it looked like he might say something, but apparently Gladio thought the better of it and turned back to the game instead.

"Watch your damn left side," he grunted when he finally spoke up. "You ain't got Prompto there to watch it for ya."

Noctis had a sarcastic response on the tip of his tongue when a loud bang from the front of the house stole his words away. Two more followed in rapid succession, and when Noctis turned to ask Gladio what the hell was going on, his Shield was already on his feet. Practically throwing the couch out of the way, he made a straight shot for the door.

"Gladio?!"

"Stay there!" He didn't even turn around as he barked out the order and disappeared into the hallway.

Stay there? What the hell? Noctis's compliance with his Shield's less than gracious request lasted all of five seconds, which was long enough for the few enraged shouts from the doorway to fade. With a cold, sinking feeling, Noctis realized none of them were Prompto's-when he skidded to a stop in the foyer, he saw why.

The front door was wide open. Noctis could see that Gladio had a man in a delivery uniform slammed up against the Argentum's mailbox on the other side. A firearm had been discarded on the lawn, and lying between the front stoop and the threshold in a slowly growing pool of blood was Prompto.

Noctis felt his chest tighten, his mind racing to interpret the sight before him. No part of this made any damn sense. Hadn't it only been a few seconds since Prompto had been sitting right beside him at the base of the couch? This couldn't be happening. None of it felt real. None of it _could_ be real.

But it was.

Noctis didn't remember kneeling down beside Prompto, but that's where he found himself, his hands hovering uselessly over his friend while Gladio stormed back through the door with the unconscious assailant slung over his shoulder.

"Dammit, Noct-call an ambulance!"

Gladio's shout broke Noctis out of his stupor, but not by much. The crushing reality of the situation had him frozen in place, and he cast a quick glance down the hallway at where his phone sat abandoned in the living room. Every nerve in his body was screaming for him to get up and do what Gladio had asked, but no matter how much he urged himself, he couldn't move.

With a gentler touch than he used to deposit the would-be assassin on the staircase, Gladio pushed Noctis out of the way. His tone didn't have the same bite to it as it had moments ago, but he made up for it with firm urgency as he commanded, "Get to the living room and make the call. You ain't doing him any favors just sitting there."

Noctis swallowed around the dry lump in his throat and nodded mutely before he scrambled to his feet, sparing only a brief glance for Gladio as he took his place beside their friend and placed his fingers against Prompto's throat to check for a pulse.

A flare of panic shot through Noctis's gut.

 _He's not dead_.

Noctis shook his head, refusing to believe any of the negative thoughts that were attempting to convince him of the contrary. It would all work out okay if he could just _focus_ -which would have been a whole lot easier if his hands weren't shaking when he picked up his phone.

Even with his attempts at strengthening his resolve, Noctis's conversation with the emergency response operator felt like an out of body experience. He could hear the answers he gave to their questions- _my friend's been shot, I don't know how many times, I don't know where_ -but it all seemed like the words were coming from far away. It was embarrassing to hear how many of his replies were that he didn't know.

The scene in the foyer was almost the same as he had left it when he returned, only Gladio's hands were now pressed firmly against Prompto's chest, stemming the flow of blood. He shifted his position as soon as he noticed Noctis approach and bore down with one hand as he got back up.

"Take over for me," Gladio ordered, frowning as he caught sight of Noctis for the first time since everything had erupted. Noctis knew what he was doing: Gladio had gone into Shield mode and was inspecting him for any outward signs of injury. Finding none, he continued, "Need to call Iggy so we can do something about that one."

He jerked his head over at the man on the steps, and Noctis nodded, unwilling to answer verbally for fear of how it would sound coming out. Gladio had always been a man of action and unbreakable will; Noctis was far too embarrassed at how his response might be taken given that he was still reeling to catch up with the events that had transpired.

"Ambulance coming?"

Noctis didn't look at Gladio, replying with a tiny nod as he focused on the ragged breaths Prompto was drawing in beneath his palms. He was still breathing, which Noctis would consider a good sign if it weren't for the amount of blood that seeped into his friend's shirt, causing the fabric to cling to his hands.

" _Noct_."

Gladio's voice was sharper and mixed with exasperated annoyance as he looked to him for an answer. A _spoken_ answer.

"Y-Yeah. I…yeah, they're coming."

Gladio wiped his own hands off on his pants and retrieved his phone, planting himself next to the man he had subdued on the staircase. He didn't even try to hold back his look of disgust. It was clear the only thing keeping him from taking matters into his own hands and throttling the guy was a remarkable level of professionalism.

Perhaps that and the fact that the ambulance would be arriving shortly, which meant Gladio wouldn't want to split their attention between Prompto and the guy he'd kicked the crap out of.

 _Prompto._

Noctis peered down at his friend, a sudden and renewed flare of worry and panic rising in his gut. Prompto had been unresponsive since Noctis first arrived on the scene; the most he had heard from him was a small whimper of pain when Gladio applied pressure to his wound. Mouth opening and closing wordlessly, Noctis shot Gladio a desperate look as he struggled to form the words for the question he wanted to ask. Eventually, he swallowed hard, daring another glance at Prompto. His friend was looking increasingly pale in the dimming evening light.

"He's going to be okay, right?" he asked, hating how the question sounded. Noctis couldn't shake off the sinking feeling that this was all his fault: he had been the one who insisted they come here and refused to take no for an answer. None of this would have happened at his apartment-the place was crawling with the Crownsguard and the occasional Glaive. No one would have made it to his door unless they were authorized.

What Noctis needed was the reassurance that this wasn't as bad as it seemed.

He knew if anyone was going to give it to him straight, it would be Gladio, who drew in a sharp breath. Normally, he considered that a good thing. This time, however, the look of uncertainty in his Shield's eyes made Noctis's insides twist. Gladio would never tell him everything would work out fine if he wasn't sure it would, which is why instead of reassurances that anyone else might have provided, he heaved an exasperated sigh and inclined his head.

"Put your weight into it. You're tryin'a stop the blood flow there."

With that, Gladio threw himself back into his phone call, relaying the situation to Ignis-or maybe it was Cor. Noctis's attention kept fading in and out of the conversation, so he no longer had any idea who Gladio was talking to. Instead, he focused on the end of the street, watching for the telltale signs of emergency vehicles.

Gladio hung up, letting out a long, frustrated sigh. This was _not_ where he expected the day to go. He'd had a bad feeling when Noct had said he changed the normal order to delivery, but he'd let it go. This was sissy picket fence suburbia-there was no reason to mother hen about it. The king had even allowed Noct to come here with just him as protection.

Then the first shot had rung out, and Gladio knew how wrong that had been.

Prompto had still been on his feet after the first shot, albeit staggering against the door frame. It was the second and third that knocked the kid on the floor.

Gladio figured the bastard probably would have continued firing if he hadn't caught sight of him charging down the hall. The man had been quick to throw his weapon and make a run for it-coward. He hadn't been all that scared when he was shooting down a defenseless seventeen-year-old.

He wasn't so tough anymore, not when Gladio had him pressed against the pavement either.

Under different circumstances, he supposed he would have been pissed that Noct didn't follow instructions and stay in the living room. Seeing him hunched over Prompto came as more a relief than anything else, though. The kid needed help and fast.

If only Noct hadn't been too paralyzed with shock to do much of anything. It had taken everything in Gladio's power not to literally shake his charge out of it and send him to call the paramedics.

He was thankful when they finally arrived and swallowed his temper. The time between Noct's call and their appearance on the scene probably only _felt_ like forever. Noct backed off almost instantly, giving them room to take over as they made quick but gentle work of hoisting Prompto onto a stretcher and loading him into the back of the ambulance.

Gladio didn't consider himself well-versed in the medical profession, but he didn't like the sound of the commands being thrown back and forth between the paramedics. It didn't sound good, although then again, why should it? The amount of blood left on the entryway floor should have told him that.

"Do we need to tend to him too?"

Gladio snapped back to attention, looking at the paramedic, who was staring cautiously between him and the sack of human filth on the staircase. She couldn't _seriously_ mean she wanted to help him as well, not when he could see the rest of them already in the back of the ambulance frantically trying to treat Prompto.

 _Hell no. We can deal with this asshole ourselves._

"He can walk it off," Gladio grunted, crossing his arms over his chest to emphasize the fact that he would not be budging on this. They all might have some candy ass oath where they were supposed to help all the sick and injured, but Gladio had an oath as well: _anyone who tries to murder my friends deals with me._

If the paramedic found Gladio's statement to be vaguely threatening (and it was), she was smart enough not to say anything about it.

"Are either of you going to ride along?" she inquired, stopping halfway to the ambulance and looking more at Noctis than Gladio. He figured she probably suspected that he would be murdering that man once they had driven off; to be fair, if there wasn't an obnoxious ton of legalities involved, Gladio would have considered it.

Noct nodded silently to her question, immediately making to follow.

 _Oh, hell no._

Gladio clapped a hand on Noct's shoulder, halting him in his advance and earning a bewildered and somewhat annoyed glare from his charge. "We'll follow in a bit. King's already called ahead to make some arrangements."

The paramedic's eyes grew wide as she threw a glance at Noct and then back over her shoulder at Prompto still lying unconscious. News of the Crown's involvement must have inspired her not to sit around and wait for the resolution of the argument that Gladio knew was coming. Instead, she firmly nodded and hastily reentered the ambulance, shutting the door as it pulled off with sirens blaring.

As Gladio expected, Noct didn't even wait until they were out of sight before he shrugged off Gladio's hand and spun around, leveling him with a look that might actually have been intimidating if he wasn't half his size.

"What the hell?!" Noct gestured towards the road with a glower. "You're just going to leave him like that? _Alone_?"

Yeah, of course Noct would choose _now_ to snap out of his stupor. Gladio tried not to feel too put out by his anger: he had an obvious reason to be upset, and Noct just wasn't the type to think logically in an emotional situation. That was Gladio's unfortunate job at the moment.

So, with a little less bite than he would normally have responded to Noct's outbursts with, Gladio huffed and settled for a light glare instead. "He ain't gonna be alone. We'll head over as soon as-"

" _You_ left him alone at the door!" Noct interjected. Apparently, the shock had now given way to some, in Gladio's opinion, misplaced fury.

He sucked in a breath. There was a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Ignis, telling him to proceed with caution. He wasn't looking to upset Noct further, but he'd be damned if he let himself be accused of the callousness Noct was implying.

"You seriously think he was here to kill Prompto?"

Maybe his tone had a bit more venom in it than he intended it to, but the sentiment stood. They had just been through an ordeal and were still in the thick of it; there was no way in hell Gladio was going to be able to wind it down until he was one hundred percent sure his charge was safe.

His answer brought Noct up short, any snarky retort he might have prepared dying on his tongue. He simply shut his mouth and clenched his jaw in silence.

Gladio took that as his cue to drive his point home, as much as he loathed to do so this time. If his suspicions about what had gone on here were correct, then Prompto's injury was on _them-_ a fact that he was not about to take lightly.

"You said you used the usual order, yeah?"

Noct swallowed hard and nodded, apparently aware that he was being walked to a point that he wasn't going to like the results of.

"Yer name is saved on it, isn't it?"

Another nod. Noct's eyes searched out the ground, his shoulders slumping in defeat as realization started to set in. Gladio knew this was on him just as much, if not more, than Noct. He was his Shield, and as such, he was tasked with his protection. As soon as he'd found out that Noct had switched their normal order to delivery, he should never have allowed Prompto to answer the door. He had gotten caught up in the casual atmosphere of their outing and let the details slip through the cracks, and now Prompto-a civilian-was the one paying for it.

It was clear who the gunman believed was going to open the door. Noct might have found it heartless for him to bypass Prompto to go for the fleeing assailant, but Gladio would never apologize for it. There were countless other things he could be blamed for when it came to preventing this entirely, but the bottom line was that Gladio's job was to protect _Noct_. He'd done what he had to, given the situation. If that man had come to kill his charge, there was no way Gladio could allow him to escape. No matter what had happened, no matter what happened now, he did his duty. Any consequences that came from the missteps that led them here, Gladio would accept, but Noct would get no damn apology for leaving Prompto.

It wasn't that Gladio didn't care. He did. It was hard to wrap his head around the fact that fifteen minutes ago could have been the last time he'd see Prompto alive, and if it was hard for _him,_ Gladio imagined it was twice as bad for Noct. But he couldn't let him leave with Prompto. There was too big a risk involved in letting him go anywhere unprotected.

"Iggy's on his way with the Crownsguard," Gladio continued with a heavy sigh. "You should head back into the living room."

At least Ignis would be able to handle all that emotional junk.

The waiting didn't suit Gladio's temperament at all. He was a man of action, and with no current course of action available to him, he was left to wear a hole in the Argentum's foyer by pacing back and forth like a caged animal. There was the fleeting idea of punching the murderous bastard a few more times, but Gladio figured the marshal would prefer he still have all his teeth when they hauled his ass back to the Citadel for questioning.

Pity.

That only left standing in the doorway like an angry father waiting for an errant child to sneak in after curfew, which was absolutely ridiculous in Gladio's mind. You would think that, with the knowledge that there had been an attack that threatened the prince's life, they would have arrived quicker than this. It had been-what, ten minutes since he'd ended the call?

Gladio knew he was being unreasonable, not that he would admit it aloud. Still, with each minute that ticked by, he grew more irritated with only being able to hang around and watch the blood dry on the floor.

Maybe he'd just knock out _half_ that guy's teeth.

Ignis and the rest of the appointed Crownsguard had barely come to a complete stop on the street before Gladio stalked out to meet them.

"Took ya long enough."

"Hardly," Ignis responded with a scathing glare of his own that informed Gladio this was neither the time nor place to start getting petty. "Where's Noct?"

Gladio nodded back towards the house. "Inside."

"Is he alright?"

"You think I'd be out here chattin' with you if he wasn't?"

That one earned him another glower from Ignis, and Gladio swallowed his own mounting hostility and pent-up aggression before he continued, "He's pissed I wouldn't let him leave with 'em for the hospital, but ain't nothing I can do about that."

Read: _That's your job now._

Ignis sighed as though he'd expected as much, although it wouldn't have been hard for him to anticipate. You didn't have to know Noct all his life to realize how stubborn he was.

"And our would-be assassin?"

"Been keepin' him knocked out on the steps. Bastard tried to run as soon as he saw me. Threw the gun and everything," Gladio scoffed. His voice dipped, and he adopted a quieter, more frustrated tone as he went on, "Not before he fired three shots, though."

Ignis's jaw clenched, and he nodded slowly, giving himself a few moments to process that information. The little bit that Gladio had given him on the phone had been brief at best; they hadn't had time for a drawn-out discussion. "All three of them hit Prompto, I take it?"

"Hard to say." Gladio shook his head in dismay. "Doesn't really matter how many hit him. He was in pretty rough shape when they got him outta here."

"Certainly explains Noct's desire to leave as soon as possible."

"You think I'd just let him go by himself?" Gladio shot back defensively. "I ain't exactly thrilled to be sittin' around here waitin' either."

Ignis hummed, answering with a knowing look that would have tempted Gladio to kick him if it didn't mean delaying them further. "I will speak to Noct. It's best that you brief the marshal so we can get going as quickly as we can. The sooner we have a clear handle on the situation, the better."

Gladio glanced over his shoulder at where Cor was standing on the lawn, carefully retrieving the gun that had been tossed haphazardly in the attempted escape.

"Yeah," he muttered, not looking forward to admitting that his own shortcomings that brought them to this-especially not to _Cor_. "I told Noct to go wait in the living room."

Ignis nodded, silently wasting no time in brushing past Gladio and heading into the house, leaving him to his own unfortunate task. Gladio took a deep breath and squared his shoulders as he strode over. It would do no good to keep the marshal waiting.

"Noct?"

Noctis lifted his head from his hands. Ignis was using that cautious voice, the one he'd adopted back when Noctis was eight and everyone feared that the smallest thing would break him entirely. He hated that tone. It meant that Ignis was worried or about to say something Noctis wasn't going to like-maybe both.

"Are we going now?" That was his only concern at the moment. He didn't want to talk about what had happened, especially not that it was entirely his fault. He only wanted the absolute assurance that Prompto would be fine, and right now, he believed that the best way to ensure that was to be there.

Every moment he spent staring at the empty living room, watching their game cycle through the idle screens, was another moment he wasn't fixing this and undoing the damage he'd caused. That wasn't something he could accomplish by sitting alone or being protected. He knew-and loathed-the fact that they were only stalled because they had to make sure he was safe. He also knew where Gladio was coming from, but it didn't make him any less frustrated. He was fine. Gladio had nabbed the guy, and Noctis didn't have a scratch on him, all because someone else had suffered in the line of fire instead.

Noctis couldn't stand that he was still waiting here, protected and coddled while his friend was miles away, alone with his life hanging in the balance. There was absolutely no reason, in Noctis's mind, that they should be worrying about anything other than that.

"Gladio is currently reporting to the marshal. Once that's taken care of, we can go."

Noctis huffed in irritation. Perfect. More waiting.

"There isn't much you can do for him at present," Ignis pointed out, and Noctis felt the muscle in his jaw twitch. That was _not_ what he wanted to hear right now. "His Majesty has already seen to it that the hospital was contacted ahead of Prompto's arrival. He will be well taken care of, I can assure you of that."

When that didn't do anything to placate Noctis, Ignis sighed, "Even if you were there, you would only be waiting for him to come out of surgery. There is a lot more you can do here."

Noctis let out a shaky breath. He wasn't prepared to flat out deny any of what Ignis had said, but he had been sitting here awhile now watching the minutes crawl by, and nothing useful had come to mind. "Like what?"

"Neither His Majesty nor the Crownsguard have been able to get in touch with Prompto's parents. Perhaps you might try calling them from his phone so that they are informed of the situation. They may be more likely to answer from a number they recognize."

As helpful as it sounded, that was not what Noctis had in mind. He had never met Prompto's parents let alone spoken to them; he hardly wanted their first introduction to be delivering this kind of news. Ignis must have come to the same conclusion, because he was quick to amend his suggestion.

"If you are able to locate his phone, I'll make the call."

Noctis scanned the room until he found it beside Prompto's controller, where he'd tossed both of them on the floor when he went to answer the door. Swallowing awkwardly, he glanced down at the phone as he picked it up and offered it to Ignis. "I don't know his passcode…or their number."

"It's no matter." Ignis instantly went to work on the device, adding, "All recent models often allow unimpeded access to emergency contacts for times-" Ignis cut himself off with a frown.

"What is it?" Noctis asked, a thrill of panic shooting through him. He was unable to imagine what could possibly make this situation any worse. However, it was not something he was tempted to test the universe on.

"It would appear that Prompto keeps his emergency contacts set as you, Gladio, and myself." Ignis set the phone back down beside him. "I suppose, given that the three of us are currently informed, we need not bother."

Ignis glanced back at the device, staring in a thoughtful way that told Noctis he was formulating some sort of plan he intended to keep to himself until he felt ready to divulge the details. For a moment, Noctis wondered if he had forgotten about his presence entirely. When it passed, Ignis looked over at him and cleared his throat.

"Do you think you could go to Prompto's room and gather a few of his personal effects? There is no telling how long he may need to remain in the hospital's care, and at the very least it might do him some good to have fresh clothes."

Noctis nodded mutely, starting to head towards the stairs while Ignis pulled out his own phone and dialled a number.

"Ah, yes, Your Majesty-"

Ignis's voice faded out as Noctis reached the top of the steps and turned down the hallway, peeking into a room and attempting to determine whether it was Prompto's. Noctis assumed that Ignis was contacting the Citadel to provide an update or to tell them not to bother continuing to call Prompto's family. In reality, Noctis wasn't surprised that Prompto didn't keep them as emergency numbers: in the years they had known each other, Prompto had often proved himself to be a sympathetic ear for Noctis's offhand complaints about his own father's absence. He really should have realized it came from a place of personal experience.

If he was being honest with himself, Noctis knew he should have clued into that earlier. Prompto's parents had always been absent from every school function dating back to before they were even friends. Noctis frowned at that thought: his dad might not have always been around, but at the very least he'd expect someone to pick up the phone and get a message to him if something happened.

Seeing as that wasn't the case for the Argentums, Noctis wanted to get to the hospital sooner. Who cared if it only amounted to more waiting?

Noctis pushed open another door and peered inside. The entire endeavor of finding Prompto's room felt vaguely intrusive. He had already passed a bathroom and a seemingly unused bedroom that probably belonged to his parents. This one, however, had to be Prompto's even if it was a lot neater than he'd expected.

That wasn't to say that he'd assumed his friend was disorganized, but Prompto never struck Noctis as the type to make his bed every day either, especially since he spent so much of his time at Noctis's apartment. There, they were lucky if laundry made it two feet from the hamper.

At least this would make whatever he needed to grab easier to find.

He started by snatching the bookbag that was slung over the desk chair and unceremoniously dumping the contents on Prompto's bed. The last thing he was going to do was bring him school work: that would only add insult to injury, and at this point, Noctis was willing to do all his homework for him. Even math.

Noctis frowned, The room might be neat, but he realized he didn't have any idea where Prompto kept anything. As invasive as it felt, it appeared he would be reduced to opening and rummaging through drawers until he located what he needed.

The first drawer in the desk gave him pause. On the surface, there was nothing inside that Prompto would probably require during his hospital stay, but a neat slip of paper on top caught his attention. A letter, most likely, that had obviously been folded and unfolded so many times that he thought touching it again might cause it to tear at the creases.

Well, that was interesting.

Noctis shut the drawer. It was also none of his damn business. He was supposed to be looking for clothes and toiletries, not snooping. He'd be pissed if someone went through his private notebook with Luna, so there was no excuse for him to be going through Prompto's private stuff.

It didn't take him long after that to locate clothes. Noctis optimistically took only a couple of shirts and pants-sweatpants, seeing as they'd be the most comfortable-and all the bathroom essentials before he shut the flap on the bag.

He almost left it at that, turning to leave the room with a pillow tucked under his arm when a ratty looking chocobo plush toy on the shelf over the bed caught his eye. Under normal circumstances, Noctis would have had at least five different, albeit childish, insults ready to go at the sight of a _plush toy_ in his friend's room.

No such taunts came to mind as he shoved the stuffed animal in the bag between two shirts.

When he was younger and been attacked, the Carbuncle figurine his father gave him had provided a small bit of comfort. Noctis didn't know if this particular memento had any sentimental value, but it wouldn't hurt to bring it along. Even Gladio would have the common decency not to make fun of him for it. Plus, it was way better than the ' _History of Lucian Monarchs_ ' text that he left behind on the bed.

Gladio was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, watching him expectantly. "You ready?"

Noctis nodded, handing over the pillow he was holding when he reached him. "That mean we're going now?"

"The marshal just left with our culprit. His fate will now be for your father to decide," Ignis chimed in, pocketing his phone and surveying Noct quickly. What he didn't say was that that would depend on how things with Prompto turned out.

"Ignis'll drive the first car with me and Noct. The rest of you can follow behind him," Gladio announced, nodding towards the four Crownsguard operatives that were congregating in the foyer.

"We're really taking four guards?" Noctis asked with a frown, glancing over his shoulder as he climbed into the backseat of the lead car.

"Two, really," Ignis explained as Gladio slid into the seat next to Noctis. "His Majesty thought it best that, depending on how long Prompto must stay there, two guards remain at the hospital to watch his room."

"They weren't trying to kill him, though," Noctis noted a bit glumly. He wasn't against the idea of leaving someone there to make sure Prompto was safe, but it didn't change the fact that he was never a target to begin with.

"Be that as it may, it isn't wise to discount the possibility of accomplices who may wish to finish the botched job."

Gladio snorted. "'S'all well and good, but it sounds like he acted alone. The marshal said the guy's a refugee. Lost his family in one of the Niff attacks near the borders. Probably wantin' to kill Noct so the king loses his family too."

Noctis turned his attention towards the window as silence descended inside the car. He wanted to feel sorry for the guy and knew that maybe he should. Currently, it was just too hard to do so. They were in a car on their way to a hospital to see his friend-a friend who this guy had shot instead of him and then kept shooting at even after he had to have realized it wasn't Noctis.

It was tough to feel sympathy for someone who responded to tragedy by creating more.

Prompto's entire body felt heavy, and for a brief moment, it even hurt to open his eyes. He groaned in protest, bringing an arm up to cover his face, but a sharp pain flaring across his chest had him instantly regretting it.

"Careful," an unfamiliar voice called out from his left. "The pain medication they gave you when they put you under is probably wearing off, and I can't give you another dosage for a couple of hours. Best you try not to move around so much."

Prompto gaped momentarily at the nurse, who was tapping at an IV fluid bag. Correction: _his_ IV fluid bag. It wasn't just that she was super cute (because she totally was), but the entire day's events slowly funneled back to him as he took in his surroundings.

He had answered the door to get their dinner. A loud bang had muffled all the sound around him, and the white-hot burst of pain that accompanied it had had him clutching the doorway for support. Everything had been shrouded in a dark haze after that. Prompto vaguely remembered winding up on the floor and a distant shout from Gladio and then nothing.

Wait.

Gladio. Noct. What if something had happened to them too? It didn't seem likely: the guy had apparently just been packing regular bullets and not the tranquilizer darts necessary to bring Gladio down. Plus, his room was empty, and Prompto was pretty sure they didn't stick plebs like him in private rooms.

"Umm, my friends that were at my house-"

"Oh, they've been waiting outside for hours." She grinned, leaning against the door. "You've got some pretty good looking friends, especially that tall one with the tattoos."

Prompto snorted. The nurse might be super cute, but she clearly had terrible eyesight. The real takeaway here was that the guys were all okay, which softened the blow of his nurse having the absolute worst taste. Nothing put a damper on the mood quicker than getting the crown prince of Lucis killed at your house.

It was a really good thing Noct hadn't answered that door.

"You feeling up for some visitors?" she asked, walking back over as she checked him over. "I don't think your one friend is going to wait much longer, but just as long as you all don't get too rowdy, you should be alright. The stuff we've got you on is bound to make you groggy, so when you start getting tired, you need to rest. Sound good?"

Prompto swallowed thickly and then nodded in agreement even though he didn't listen to much of what she'd said after absorbing the fact that his friends were about to be allowed in. She'd called Gladio 'hot'-what did she really know anyway?

With a quick wink and a promise to send them in, she slipped out the door.

Prompto shifted slightly, making an effort to carefully prop himself up on the pillows. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the screens near him and flinched. He definitely looked like hell and imagined that once whatever drugs they had him on wore off, he'd feel like it too.

The door opened again, instantly drawing Prompto's attention to Ignis, who was trailed by a very solemn looking Noct and a Gladio who looked way too proud of himself to be up to anything good.

"Nice to see you're finally awake. Getting kinda boring waiting out there." Gladio grinned, walking over to the small table beside Prompto's bed and depositing a pile of assorted chocolate and other sweets.

Prompto snorted. If he hadn't been so distracted by the offerings Gladio was spreading out, he might have had a sarcastic comment at the ready.

"Iggy said we shouldn't be gettin' ya chocolate, but-"

"He's wrong," Prompto replied, tilting his head and eyeing Noct. He looked like he would rather have the floor open up and swallow him whole than glance in his general direction. Prompto chewed at his lip, looking to Ignis and Gladio for any sort of direction on how to proceed.

Ignis was the first to speak up in response to his unspoken plea. "We weren't sure how long they would be keeping you here, so we picked up a few things from your home to bring you."

He elbowed Noct, who shuffled forward a bit with Prompto's school bag slung over his shoulder, still refusing to make eye contact. Prompto could have kicked himself if it wouldn't end up being a totally painful endeavor. It shouldn't have taken him that long to realize what his friend's problem here was. It was typical Noct accept blame for something that wasn't even close to being his fault (in Prompto's opinion, anyway) and withdraw into it.

Prompto offered him a small, lopsided grin as he surveyed his best friend. There was only one way to fix this.

"That's not homework, is it?"

That got the reaction that Prompto was hoping for: the barest of smiles found its way onto Noct's face when he held out the bag for him to accept. "Nah, would I do that to you?"

As Prompto rummaged through his things, he noticed the smile slip from Noct's face as quickly as it had appeared. Prompto paused, pulling out his old chocobo plush from where it had been tucked between a few articles of clothing. Man, Noct had to be playing guilty-not a single sarcastic comment about the fact that Prompto still owned a stuffed animal. It wasn't like he slept with it anymore or anything. It was just something he had kept since he was a kid, and the sentimental value made it impossible to get rid of the little guy.

There was a reason why Prompto hadn't taken his friends up to his room when they'd arrived, namely that if he thought Noct was going to be obnoxious about some of the stuff he had up there, Gladio would be insufferable.

Not this time. They were both quiet now, though Gladio appeared to be trying to get Noct to just spit out whatever he wanted to say.

"Look, Prompto... I'm sorry," Noct said with a small huff when Gladio caught his eye. That still didn't mean he felt comfortable looking directly at Prompto. No, he seemed really focused on the spotless floors. "I know it's my fault, and-"

Prompto cut Noct off with an amused snort. "Dude, pretty sure it was the deranged pizza guy's fault, not yours."

Yeah, it was exactly as Prompto had thought. If anything, Prompto felt bad that Noct had been grappling with his unnecessary guilt for hours now. He could only guess that their delivery guy had been there for Noct and not him, but that could hardly be considered his fault, at least not where Prompto was concerned.

The momentary look of surprise on Noct's face was worth the interruption, in Prompto's opinion, especially now that his friend seemed at a loss for how to continue when his pointless apology had been cut off.

"Look, if you really wanna make it up to me, you can sneak me in some real food. I haven't seen what they serve here yet, but I don't have high hopes."

That seemed to edge out any lingering doubt Noct might have been harboring, and his friend shot a small grin at Ignis. "Well, I mean, my dad did make the room arrangements for you. Pretty sure one more royal decree and Specs here could be head chef at Insomnia General for your entire stay."

Ignis was not on board with the idea, as he immediately dashed Prompto's growing hopes: "I am not equipped to cater for an entire hospital."

He rolled his eyes at the exaggerated pout Prompto produced, a pout he hoped would get him to change his mind.

"However, I am not opposed to providing adequate nutrition to supplement your meals during your stay."

"That's Specs talk for, he's going to cook you some boring healthy stuff," Noct muttered, not concealing a look of disgust as well as he probably would have liked.

Prompto wouldn't complain. Health food was all well and good with him; he wasn't the one with the vegetable aversion. Still, he was going to need them to back the conversation up just a little bit.

"Wait, wait, wait—I mean, okay, that's awesome and I'll totally live here if it means I get to eat Iggy's cooking. But your dad-you know, the king- _he_ got me this room?"

Gladio rolled his eyes. "What did you think, they stuck you in a private room to quarantine you from the other patients?"

"Uh, yeah. That makes more sense."

"Then perhaps I should inform you that His Majesty has also seen to it that both he and the marshal have been added to your list of emergency contacts should you require aid in the future," Ignis added. That was probably a good thing: if it had been anyone other than Ignis, Prompto would swear this was a joke.

"Your _dad_ is in my emergency contacts now?!" Prompto gasped, staring at Noct with wide-eyed shock.

"Yeah, well, next time don't take bullets for me," Noctis muttered, appearing more embarrassed than he deserved to be. If anyone here should be mortified, Prompto figured it ought to be him.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Prompto protested weakly. There was no reason for any of them to make this sound more valiant than it actually was. All he had done was open the door at his own home. Noticing Gladio's raised eyebrows, he hastily added, "I-I mean, I would on purpose, though."

Noct shook his head and murmured, "Really rather you _not_ do that again on purpose either."

Obviously having had enough of the sentimental stuff, Gladio pushed himself away from the wall and stretched. "So, your nurse is pretty cute."

Prompto threw his head back against the pillow and groaned. That was the most obnoxious segue ever. "Ugh, seriously dude?"

"Pretty sure she's in to me," he added, ignoring the eye rolls he was receiving from the rest of them.

"Oh, yeah," Prompto drawled sarcastically. "I mean, who wouldn't be, what with your shirtless physique, tattoos, sultry eyes, and shitty haircut."

Tossing in the barb at the end wiped the increasingly confused stare off of Noct's face.

Gladio scowled and snatched the largest, most enticing chocolate bar off of Prompto's end table. "See? Told ya he was fine. We can leave now."

"What? No!" Prompto burst into a melodramatic coughing fit that had Ignis rolling his eyes again and shaking his head. Pointing to his side, Prompto whined, "I'm _clearly_ dying here! I think my appendix is going to explode, too! Would you honestly leave me here with-"

"Wrong side," Ignis indicated flatly.

Prompto frowned, dropping the theatrics. " _Thaaaaanks,_ Iggy."

He didn't actually harbor any delusion that Gladio was buying the act anyway, but did he really need to shut him down like that? Now Gladio was going to eat his chocolate.

Gladio smirked, unwrapping Prompto's prize and digging in. "Well, if we're gonna hang around here, I'm going to hit up the vending machine and get some coffee."

As Gladio exited the room, Prompto frowned at the door. "He's going to go hit on the nurse, isn't he?"

"Probably," Noctis muttered back.

"Son of a bitch."

"Now, Prompto," Ignis spoke up, getting back to business. "If it is acceptable to you, His Majesty suggested that once you're released, you stay with Noct for a while. The added protection should provide a benefit should this incident provoke any more attempts on your life."

"Uh…" Prompto trailed off and looked over at Noct. He knew his friend valued his privacy; he wouldn't want to impose on him. Prompto suspected that he was still probably more a nonentity than anything else. This had been a mistake more than an actual hit on him. "You cool with that, buddy?"

Noct frowned in confusion. "Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

Well, that settled that, then. "Uh, well, I guess that's cool."

"We also contacted the restaurant when we looked into your attacker's background. They wished to offer their condolences and free pizza for life."

Prompto responded with a weak chuckle, fidgeting in discomfort. "Um, as long as it's carryout, I'll take it."

"Yes, I do think deliveries are now off the table," Ignis agreed, glancing over at Noct when he let out a shaky sigh, "which is honestly for the best. If you all wish to have pizza, I'm more than happy to make one for you from scratch."

"The one with the weird, wrinkly tomatoes?" Noct asked, his disgusted expression pulling him out of whatever funk Ignis's previous comment threatened to put him in. "Pass."

Ignis opened his mouth, the start of a lecture obviously on the tip of his tongue, but was interrupted by Gladio's return-sans coffee.

"You know, that nurse is cute and all, but we both have such demanding jobs. I know it would never work, so I let her down easy," he said, dropping down into one of the armchairs.

"Awww." Prompto fought back a yawn. "You open your mouth and your personality came out?"

His eyes were starting to feel heavy, and as much as he wanted to deny it, a nap sounded pretty good right about now.

"You wanna run that one by me again?"

"Easy there, tough guy. You wouldn't go attacking an injured civilian, would you?" Prompto mumbled the last few words, tucking the chocobo plush that Noct had brought along for him under his arm.

Gladio opened his mouth to respond only to have Ignis cut him off.

"While I'm sure whatever retort Gladio wanted to share was riveting-"

"He means stupid," Noct supplied.

"Yes," Ignis continued. "We should probably leave and allow you to get your rest."

Prompto frowned, sitting up a bit and instantly regretting it. As they started filing out the door, he hopefully asked, "I'll see you tomorrow, right?"

"Count on it," Noct replied with a nod. A cheeky smile spread across his face as he added, "I'll bring a pizza."


End file.
